Yukihiro Matsumoto

But in fact we need to focus on humans, on how humans care about doing programming or operating the application of the machines. We are the masters. They are the slaves.

Yukihiro Matsumoto (born 14 April 1965), a.k.a. Matz, is a Japanese computer scientist and software programmer best known as the chief designer of the Ruby programming language and its reference implementation, Matz's Ruby Interpreter (MRI).

Quotes

• Often people, especially computer engineers, focus on the machines. They think, "By doing this, the machine will run faster. By doing this, the machine will run more effectively. By doing this, the machine will something something something." They are focusing on machines. But in fact we need to focus on humans, on how humans care about doing programming or operating the application of the machines. We are the masters. They are the slaves.
  • Yukihiro Matsumoto "The Philosophy of Ruby, A Conversation with Yukihiro Matsumoto, Part I" by Bill Venners on 2003-09-29 (Artima Developer).

• Everyone has an individual background. Someone may come from Python, someone else may come from Perl, and they may be surprised by different aspects of the language. Then they come up to me and say, 'I was surprised by this feature of the language, so Ruby violates the principle of least surprise.' Wait. Wait. The principle of least surprise is not for you only. The principle of least surprise means principle of least my surprise. And it means the principle of least surprise after you learn Ruby very well. For example, I was a C++ programmer before I started designing Ruby. I programmed in C++ exclusively for two or three years. And after two years of C++ programming, it still surprises me.
  • Yukihiro Matsumoto "The Philosophy of Ruby, A Conversation with Yukihiro Matsumoto, Part I" by Bill Venners on 2003-09-29 (Artima Developer).

• Computers are not very smart. They don't understand human language, so we have to tell them what to do in a language that both humans and computers can understand.
  • Yukihiro Matsumoto "I'm a Mormon, Ruby Author and a World-changer" by ComeUntoChrist.org on 2013-08-12.